Relearning an old lesson

So I took a few moments for introspection the other day, I know, I know, with a subject as awesome as yours truly who can resist, right? Any-who, I was introspecting and discovered anew that I have a pretty rockin' life. I believe I was bemoaning my date-less wonder of an existence when it occurred to me that a) I live in a nice apartment with working plumbing and central heating and air conditioning b) I have a job where my boss likes me and I can afford to splurge on a pedicure whenever I want and c) I'm 25 and have no reason not to be living a fabulous life, and I am. So what brought this onslaught of self-realization you ask? I am going to wax philanthropic here momentarily so feel free to check out at will. I spent my Saturday morning (repeat SATURDAY MORNING) lending my very able hand to the local Habitat for Humanity project. What a project. First of all, walking up to the construction site I passed several individuals casually loitering about the adjacent property watching in wonder as a couple dozen crazy people spent their free SATURDAY MORNING performing manual labor of their own free will. CRAZY PEOPLE. We started out the day taking down scaffolding and moving it to the house next door. Within the first 5 minutes I had started to regret my volunteer efforts. Scaffolding is not flimsy stuff folks, it's heavy. After moving one house of scaffolding we moved next door and finished the existing scaffolding to three levels. When the second layer of walkway wasn't nestling down properly on the frame I was instructed to go up there and "jump on it." Now let me tell you that standing 20 feet in the air on a bunch of tin constructed by your fellows is not something that fills you with security much less makes you want to jump. So I held on to one of the studs handily available from the unfinished wall and gave it a good stomp, at which point the other end promptly popped up into the air. We went this way back and forth stomping each side of the scaffolding trying to get it to settle down until finally we had two people on the first level ROCKING the scaffolding back and forth and I haphazardly stomped my way around the perimeter. Finally the scaffolding was steady and secure and everyone could climb aboard. Now you may not be aware, but Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit operation, hence they put their income toward the necessities, land, nails, wood. Not luxuries like power-tools, namely nail guns. So here's our lovely hero, not exactly a husky broad, hauling 8 x 4 sheets of OSB board up 3 flights of scaffolding to HAND NAIL it to the side of a house. I believe I've done enough manual labor for this year. As much fun as this was, it is not the point of my story. The point is this, well almost, I am now leading to the point of the story, hang on. So part of the Habitat deal is that homeowners have to put in 300 hours of "sweat equity" toward their home. We had a woman join us who was working toward just that. She was probably in her 50's, heavy-set, and just not in a position to be climbing up and down scaffolding all day in the heat. Bless her heart she was there though, it was her 3rd Saturday and explained to my roommate that she had been trying to get her family to come out but they just wouldn't yet. The neighborhood we were building in was not Park Avenue, the homes would never equate with Trump Towers, in fact every first floor window was outfitted with it's own brand spankin new set of bars. And here we were, a dozen or so 20-something single latterday saints spending our free time building houses. There's something fulfilling in that. There was a time when the work of your own hands came much more readily. When having a home didn't mean filling out the lease forms and providing proof of employment. There was a time when people came together and helped one another for the common good. But it's not past tense, I just can't bring myself to believe that humanity has sunk that far. And I am part of the truth in that. So what is the point of the story really? I don't know if there was one. But it's pretty fun to tell. When I sit at home with all of my creature comforts and start to complain, I have one more thing to hold me back.